US Interest Rates and Oil
No room for errors is the mantra that has dawned on the market as the effect of having been so exuberant about the path of US interest rates in 2024. In the same way that fears of an escalation of disruption in the Red Sea of oil shipments by the Houthis have dissipated in the past 24 hours, Brent Oil has dropped by 1% and now stands at $78.74. That means that both interest rate and energy markets are vulnerable to upsets in Q1 as actuality overtakes expectations.
EUR/USD 1.1065.
UK Cash
Despite claims to the contrary, cash is still a thing in the UK with GBP62 million being taken out of ATMs on December 22 up from GBP 51 million on the last Friday before Christmas in 2022. Cash is expected to decline in usage as Gen Z grow up digitally-until of course they discover that cash does still have a function even if it is only as a gift to children and grand-children assuming there is any left over from going down to the pub.
GBP/USD 1.2750.
Welsh Language of Love
As it turns out this is about a 33 year old American man named Arieh Smith who has studied 50 languages. It takes him about 15 sessions with an online tutor to be sufficiently proficient to risk his speaking skills despite claiming to have been a poor language student. Having tried out Welsh, Arieh has fallen in love with the language and has flown over to Cardiff where he has been wowing Welsh speakers with his fluency. Well all we can say to him is that he should get out more and as a suggestion, take a train from Cardiff to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which means The Church of Mary in the hallow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave. Oh yes and it is indeed one word as well as being the railway station with the longest name.
GBP/EUR 1.1510.
Jammin’
This day in 1982 the Jamaican government issued a commemorative Bob Marley postage stamp in honour of the Reggae star who had departed this world in May 1981 and who had notched up sales of 75 million records worldwide as well as leaving his musical stamp on all proper celebrations both then and ever since.
Ooh, yeah! All right!
We’re jammin’:
I wanna jam it wid you.
We’re jammin’, jammin’,
And I hope you like jammin’, too.
Ain’t no rules, ain’t no vow, we can do it anyhow:
I’n’I will see you through,
‘Cos everyday we pay the price with a little sacrifice,
Jammin’ till the jam is through.
We’re jammin’
To think that jammin’ was a thing of the past;
We’re jammin’,
And I hope this jam is gonna last.
No bullet can stop us now, we neither beg nor we won’t bow;
Neither can be bought nor sold.
We all defend the right; Jah – Jah children must unite:
Your life is worth much more than gold.
We’re jammin’ (jammin’, jammin’, jammin’)
And we’re jammin’ in the name of the Lord
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
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